Tim Hwang, Director, Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative | Speaker

Tim Hwang is a machine learning expert, business leader, and entrepreneur whose career has focused on improving AI and understanding the impact of machine learning on society.

Having worked previously with groups including Google and IBM, and dubbed “the busiest man on the Internet” by Forbes, Hwang served as a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, where he focused on artificial intelligence and national security issues. Before that, Hwang was the director of the Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a $26M philanthropic fund and research effort backed by LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman, working to ensure that machine learning and autonomous technologies are researched, developed, and deployed in the public interest.

Hwang’s speeches aid groups in better understanding the complexities of AI and machine learning and how to build ethics into the application of these technologies. Passionate about the ethics of machine learning—and easy to follow when discussing it — Hwang continues to demonstrate his thought leadership in the AI space. Using everyday life examples and captivating visuals in his presentations, he provides attendees with actionable insights on what they need to know right now about AI and how to best ethically implement it. By sharing his practical experience on the forefront of these technologies, Hwang brings nuance to the technological breakthroughs that have captivated the public in recent years and spotlights what’s likely to be coming right around the corner.

Prior to the AI Initiative, Hwang was the Global Public Policy lead for artificial intelligence and machine learning at Google, where he developed the company’s messaging and led government outreach on a broad range of questions around the social impact of the technology including security, safety, bias, and fairness. He also led research at Intelligence & Autonomy, a research initiative on AI and its influence in the labor markers, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hwang’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. In 2011, The Globe and Mail named Hwang one of a dozen people changing philanthropy, alongside Bill Gates and George Soros.

Tim has worked in the past with groups such as Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, IBM, Imgur, the Institute for the Future, the Mozilla Foundation, Oxford Internet Institute, RAND Corporation, Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and Tumblr. He also sits on the board of Meedan and is an investor in Temescal Brewing.